Plots flourish in US, Biden warns: “The rest of the world is wondering about us”

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Speaking outside a CNN town hall in Ohio, Biden said the United States must “go beyond that” moment after referring to the QAnon conspiracy theory and the role of disinformation in the division and unfounded fears about the Covid-19 vaccine.

“What do you tell your grandchildren or kids about what’s going on? Do you ever remember a moment like this in all of history, whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican? It’s not not who we are, ”the president said. .

“And I will say one last thing: you go – I had a lot of international experience and – I mean, neither good nor bad, I just – I chaired the Committee on Foreign Relations, I “I did national security for our last – administration with Barack (Obama). But people, the rest of the world is wondering about us. Those of you who have traveled overseas – this is no joke. “

Biden’s comments come as the White House has taken a confrontational stance with social media platforms over the prevalence of misleading claims, particularly regarding coronavirus vaccines as cases nationwide rise .

US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy warned last week that health disinformation was “a serious threat to public health,” and the administration directly called out social media giant Facebook, accusing it of not doing enough to stop the spread of false information on its platform. .

And while Biden backed down on his accusation that Facebook was “killing people” by allowing disinformation to spread on Monday, he maintained the platform needed to do more to prevent conspiracies from flourishing.

“My hope is that Facebook, instead of taking it personally, that somehow I say Facebook is killing people, that they would do something about the misinformation, outrageous misinformation about the vaccine. That’s what I wanted to say, “the president said after a speech at the White House on the state of the economy.

Still, Biden added Wednesday night that he maintains “faith in the American people” to “ultimately get to the right place.”

Democracy, he said, “must stand up and show that it can do something.”

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